1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle instrument panel and, more particularly, to a combination indicator assembly suitably used in motor vehicles such as motorcycles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known to those skilled in the art, various instrument panels employed in automotive vehicles generally includes a tachometer, a speedometer, an odometer, a trip odometer, a fuel indicator, a temperature indicator, switching buttons and some other indicators. One conventional motorcycle instrument panel includes indicators and switching buttons arranged forwardly and rearwardly of the tachometer, respectively, with respect to the direction of run of the motorcycle. Another conventional motorcycle instrument panel includes an analog tachometer of a round configuration positioned on one of opposite sides of the instrument panel with respect to a motorcyclist and having a pointer needle for providing an analog display of the number of revolutions of the engine, and a digital speedometer of a generally rectangular configuration positioned on the other of the sides of the instrument panel for providing a digital display of the velocity of the motorcycle and having a display window defined within a marginal area of the digital speedometer for selectively displaying a cumulative distance of travel of the motorcycle or a trip distance depending on the position of a switching button. A further conventional motorcycle instrument panel includes an analog tachometer and a digital speedometer and a digital odometer both positioned within a marginal area of the analog tachometer and on respective sides of the analog tachometer.
Those conventional motorcycle instrument panels discussed above have been found involving inconveniences. Specifically, in the case of the first-discussed motorcycle instrument panel, positioning of the indicators and the switching buttons forwardly and rearwardly of the tachometer, respectively, requires the motorcycle instrument panel to have a width increased in a direction conforming to the direction of run of the motorcycle. Accordingly, the motorcycle instrument panel as a whole tends to give rise to a bulky impression, failing to provide a sporty feeling.
In the case of the second-discussed motorcycle instrument panel, since the tachometer of the round configuration and the digital indicator of the rectangular configuration are independently arranged at left-hand and right-hand portions of the instrument panel, the instrument panel as a whole tends to become bulky. Also, although the third-discussed motorcycle instrument panel can advantageously be assembled compact in size as compared with the other conventional motorcycle instrument panels, the speedometer and the odometer are positioned spaced a distance from each other and, therefore, difficulty is often encountered in viewing the respective displays simultaneously.